The aim of the contest is to introduce the outgoing students to the Erasmus Generation. It is a healthy competition that involves international topics. It is the first of the many challenges that students will face during their Erasmus journey, therefore this is the starting point in their process of broadening their minds and starting to create a borderless view of the world.
The contest called "Il Tuo Erasmus con ESN" is one of the main italian projects, aiming to promote students' mobility. Through the allocation of 5 grants for the winners of the contest, the event aspires to convince more and more students in taking part to the competition and reflect about different aspects concerning the European Union, the Erasmus programme and the so-called "Erasmus generation" and many more "secondary" topics connected to those.
For this reason, the contest is not just a good opportunity for the winners - who, of course, can leave for their mobilities counting on 1000€ more -, but also for the contestants, because it gives them the opportunity to face the reality of a period of studies abroad even before the departure.
The brainstorming moment was fundamental and it took one month. Before the Covid - 19, this contest has always been physical and organized by each Section in collaboration with their local Universities. Due to the pandemic situation, for the past year it had to be digital and it had to be running at a National level. It was hard to rethink a contest that has 9 years of history into a new and digital one. We decided to divide the promotion into three steps:
- The launch promotion of the contest
- The promotion of the start of the contest
- The announcement promotion of the winners
We created:
- A dedicated website: iltuoerasmusconesn.it
- A promotional video explaining all the steps and the purpose of the contest (one video)
- Testimonial promotional videos with the previous winners of the contest sharing their experiences (two videos)
- The visuals for all the social media platforms (Facebook posts, Facebook header, LinkedIn posts, LinkedIn header, Twitter posts, Twitter header, IG post and IG stories)
- A press release to share with the press (digital and print), National Agency, IROs
- A dedicated Newsletter for all those interested in the contest.
In addition to the promotion of mobility, the contest represents one of the main tools through which ESN Italy promotes our brand, increasing its value exponentially. Given the widespread diffusion that the contest has, not only through our channels but also thanks to the direct sending by the National Agency to all Italian universities in possession of the ECHE and the subsequent forwarding by the latter to their students, the contest provides an incredibly valuable opportunity to reach almost all Italian students enrolled in higher education institutions and thus make them directly aware of the existence of ESN, its work, its services and the opportunities it offers in terms of support and outlets for their volunteer activities.
Another reference pint for the project is also the use of the dedicated Newsletter. Students registered to this newsletter receive through it all the information about the initiatives that ESN Italy and in general our network carries out, representing at the same time a huge and potential channel for the recruitment of new volunteers. In fact, both those who come back from Erasmus and those who simply subscribe to our newsletter are also informed of the existence of our local sections, of the possible recruiting initiatives and consequently of the whole ESN world. Thanks to the contest we are able to promote mobility, as well as support it, and at the same time to make our beloved network and what it represents known throughout the vast Italian national territory.
Last but not least, the 2021 contest saw the official introduction of English alongside Italian, as well as the drafting of all documents and useful materials in two languages. Inclusiveness is our pride and joy and inclusive communication can only bring luster and visibility to ESN initiatives.
